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cyamids (C. ovalis and C. gracilis) (Fig. 16.4). Minor changes can occur with time,
but the overall pattern remains constant from birth throughout the life of the whale
(Fig. 16.5). Callosities that occur on the rostrum are called rostral islands.
Sometimes these islands can be connected becoming one uninterrupted patch
from the blowholes to the anterior tip of the rostrum (called the “bonnet” by early
whalers, who fancied it resembled a lady’s bonnet), forming a peninsula (Fig. 16.6)
(Payne and Dorsey 1983; Payne et al. 1983; Hammond et al. 1990). This pattern is
rare in southern right whales but common in North Atlantic right whales (Hamilton
et al. 2009).
Fig. 16.2 The callosities are raised patches of roughened skin on the head of right whales, colonized by thousands of cyamids (amphipod crustaceans: Cyamus spp.) or “whale lice” (a) Callosity
pattern of an adult right whale (b) Cyamids
K. Groch
cyamids (C. ovalis and C. gracilis) (Fig. 16.4). Minor changes can occur with time,
but the overall pattern remains constant from birth throughout the life of the whale
(Fig. 16.5). Callosities that occur on the rostrum are called rostral islands.
Sometimes these islands can be connected becoming one uninterrupted patch
from the blowholes to the anterior tip of the rostrum (called the “bonnet” by early
whalers, who fancied it resembled a lady’s bonnet), forming a peninsula (Fig. 16.6)
(Payne and Dorsey 1983; Payne et al. 1983; Hammond et al. 1990). This pattern is
rare in southern right whales but common in North Atlantic right whales (Hamilton
et al. 2009).
Fig. 16.2 The callosities are raised patches of roughened skin on the head of right whales, colonized by thousands of cyamids (amphipod crustaceans: Cyamus spp.) or “whale lice” (a) Callosity
pattern of an adult right whale (b) Cyamids
K. Groch